Reduced vulnerability and increased adaptative capacity of communities and disable persons to manage the additional risks of climate change. The partnerships will achieve its goals and objectives through the implementation of a portfolio of CBA projects in all participating SIDS countries. The selection and implementation of specific micro-projects in each country will be guided by an SGP Country Programme Strategy, UN Human Rights Approach and other multi-lateral agreements especially the CBD convection on the conservation of biodiversity. The partnerships will contribute to the SD of SIDS by addressing three specific objectives: i) improving the adaptive capacity of communities, thereby reducing their vulnerablity to the adverse effects of climate change risks, ii) providing countries with concrete ground-level experience with local climate change adaptation, and iii) providing clear policy lessons that can be mainstreamed into national proceses and up scaled good practices across scale.

Implementation methodologies

The partnerships will primarily help meet objective of facilitating local-level resilience building in priority sectors. Efforts is being made to ensure close coordination leading to:- engagement with NGOs implementing Community Based Adaptation projects at larger scale in SIDS; particularly where projects will support the realization of the three critical RIO conventions (UNCCD, CBD and UNFCCC);- ensuring, where possible, linkages between community-level projects and SIDS governments priorities in each country;- utilising the outputs of climate change research outcomes in all SIDS and work with community-based organisations in the development and implementation of CBA activities;The partnerships will further engage with key regional organisations in SIDS (particularly the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Program, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the University of the South Pacific, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and the University of the West Indies) to ensure CBA investments are linked into the broader regional response to climate change

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

Capacity is being developed for the design and implementation of CBA projects, a task that is being undertaken through partnership of local (NGOs and CBOs) and national level (NSC) actors, with support for fund access in all SIDS. SGP Technical Specialists and UNDP-EEG and Regional Technical Advisors for Climate Change Adaptation provide technical support. Through focused training activities, capacity will be built in the following:- Community members ability to understand and respond to adaptation issues;- Developing baselines for monitoring and evaluation;- Setting adaptation priorities with community members;- Designing and implementing demonstration activities to manage anticipated climate change-driven risks, thereby establishing local and national pools of practitioners;- Strengthening relevant institutions to sustain the process of adaptation at the community level;- Consolidation and synthesis of lessons learned into appropriate and effective knowledge products;- Informing policy and development practice effectively. The partnerships adopts the learning by doing approach to achieve the above results by giving grants that will require actually putting acquired skills into practical action. It is expected that the initial capacity built will spread globally through regional and global NGO networks. The knowledge management component of the partnerships provides material for spread in capacity development.

Coordination mechanisms/governance structure

The partnership will be governed and managed under the existing established SGP implementation infrastructure. This includes making use of existing organizational structures such as the SGP National Coordinator (NC) and SGP National Steering Committee (NSC), as well as National Focal Persons (NFPs) and National Focal Groups (NFGs) for the programme. The NSC/NFG structure in each SIDS country has been expanded to include relevant skills on climate change and sustainable development. The existing NSC/NFG structure serves the function of a national CBA delivery platform. The reliance on the current SGP NC/NFP and NSC/NFG ensures a sustained and focused process for capacity development at the local level. NSC/NFGs are also engage with national climate change committees and donor groups where possible.The presence of key government environment officials in the NSC/NFG supports efforts at mainstreaming projects and their lessons learned to national plans, programmes and strategies. In addition, the presence of non-governmental members also provide guidance on how small local NGOs and CBOs can access the funds and build their capacity to implement CBA activities in a timely and facilitative manner. As the NSC/NFGs are also bolstered by the inclusion of relevant national climate change experts, there is available source for local guidance in both project preparation and implementation, as well as in monitoring and evaluation.

Partner(s)

Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), International Union of Nature Conservation (IUCN) through the Global Partnerships for Small Islands Developing States (GLIPSA), and Disability Rights Fund (DRF); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Progress reports

Goal 14

2016

2. Realization and mainstreaming of adaptation to climate change at the community level validated by level of awareness is more than 50% among communities

2016

4. Up scaling practices and sharing knowledge for increased up take of community based adaptation experiences is used for replication purposes in all the 37 SIDS targeted in the partnership

2016

1. Capacity strengthening among NGOs and CBOs for designing and implementing community based adaptation measures undertaken in at least 37 SIDS

2016

3. Lessons and practices from SIDS CBA initiatives included in at least one relevant national and sub-national policies and development programmes

In-kind contribution

Community contributions in the form of labour, time and local knowledge will be quantified and acknowledged. Additionally, hosts governments and other bilateral contributions from SIDS are expected to meet the minimum 1:1 co-financing which means at least

Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), International Union of Nature Conservation (IUCN) through the Global Partnerships for Small Islands Developing States (GLIPSA), and Disability Rights Fund (DRF); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)